COMMITTEE MEMBER: Can you explain what you are in
4 relation to that?
5 MR. HULTMAN: We’re the beneficiary, but we’re an
6 agent of the lender. So instead of having two — one party be
7 both the payee on the note and the beneficiary in deed of
8 trust, we’re the beneficiary as their agent. In other words,
9 we’re holding title to the mortgage lien on their behalf.
10 COMMITTEE MEMBER: Through this process called
11 nominee?
12 MR. HULTMAN: Well, nominee is just another word for
13 agent.

Continue below…

After you read the transcript, you might be interested in reading the post below

Right now Virginia has one of the fastest foreclosure processes in the country. As detailed in this Washington Post article by David Hilzenrath, there are several bills currently debated in the Virginia legislature that would slow the process and cause big changes in the way foreclosures are handled in that state.

The first proposed change would require judicial approval before a lender can seize a home. This would serve to ensure the veracity of the documentation that is required in the foreclosure process. Flawed documentation has proven to be an issue in foreclosures across the country time and time again.

The next piece of legislation would force banks to give borrowers longer advance notice before they are able to auction a home. Under the changes, homeowners would have 30-45 days warning that their home was to be sold rather than the two weeks that is currently required.

The last proposed bill is particularly interesting, because it would cause seismic shifts in mortgage lending in Virginia. The law would require lenders to keep records on real estate transactions in local records offices (which is the way real estate transfers were done for hundreds of years). This would make it harder, although not impossible, to securitize Virginia mortgages. It would, however, effectively doom the Mortgage Electronic Registration Systems (MERS) in the State of Virginia.

Va. bills slow foreclosures

RICHMOND, Va. (AP) – Virginia House and Senate bills are taking aim at “drive-by foreclosures” by big banks without judicial review and aggravated by incomplete records.

Witnesses at a hearing on some of the legislation Monday told chilling, tearful tales of giant banks foreclosing on their homes, then had to deal with conflicting statements by an unconcerned bureaucracy when they tried to contact their lenders and reason with them.

The legislation is in the works because of the flood of foreclosures that resulted from the 2008 mortgage lending industry collapse.

The bills would slow the state’s swift foreclosure pace. They would increase the time for required foreclosure notice from two weeks to 30 or 45 days. That would give borrowers time to locate records and hire attorneys to challenge foreclosures if necessary.